My Happy Place

quality time Archives

Sometimes I actually think :). I like to plan and compare and problem solve. Sometimes I think my way to an answer. Sometimes I make choices based solely on my gut whether the choice seems logical or not. I feel […]

When I take inventory of my life at this moment in time, I can honestly say that *everything* is good….everything except for missing my Joe. But that missing is paramount. I feel like I’ve been through surgery and someone has […]

Starting at their births, my husband sang to our children every.single.night. He had a special song for each child…. For Josiah: “Baby, baby, baby child…baby child my own…close those big, blue eyes of yours and sleep for just awhile.” For […]

Thursday, Nov. 3, I woke at 4 a.m. to the sounds of my husband dying. It was completely unexpected. He had been having “heart burn” for the last few weeks but the EKG in his doctor’s office showed nothing. He […]

You know what makes me happy? Garden tilling makes me happy. I relish the power of pushing a piece of heavy machinery through hard-packed soil and sod, breaking it up and making it crumbly and black. I yell, “TAWANDA!” in […]

I woke this morning feeling a bit disoriented and irritable. My mind raced to try to figure out “what was wrong?” Was I upset about something? Did I have something planned for the day that I didn’t want to do? […]

In the minivan with my family–traveling toward a new place to explore– is one of my favorite HAPPY PLACES. Vacations, however, can be expensive and exhausting and sometimes it’s impossible to get away from work and responsibilities for an entire […]

Today we spent the day at a very cool aquarium gazing at bubble-like jelly fish, a crazily-playful otter, and ferociously-feeding sharks. My 12-year-old boy–taller than I–wrapped his arms around me in this public place and said, “Thanks, mom. Thanks for […]

Sometimes I’ll stop and realize that I’m not living my life. Instead, sometimes I waste my life. I waste it wishing for the next bit of life. I thought it would be interesting to write an extreme example of how […]

“Mom, can I go pet that black and white cat on the other side of the fence?” “UUGH-GRRRR-PFFFFT” “What was that, Mom?” “UUGH-GRRRR-PFFFFT” <<giggle, giggle>> “I’ll take that as a ‘YES!’” and off she bounds to whisper private words of […]

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Inspiration Report
Happy Reading!

Turn the Radio OnRecently the kids and I have been listening to an audio book when we're in the car, but, sometimes, between discs, we'll let the radio play. Since we gave up TV years ago...and I don't read the news, either...we can be a little out of the loop. Maybe Kirsten listening to the Tulsa radio is a bit lik

Miracles in the Midst of SorrowI've found there is no logic to how I feel in the middle of grief. I've received huge gifts, and--although I'm thankful for them because they assure me I don't have to make a drastic lifestyle change at the same time that our family has been changed so drastically--I sometimes don't have an emotiona

Like a SymphonySometimes I actually think :). I like to plan and compare and problem solve. Sometimes I think my way to an answer.
Sometimes I make choices based solely on my gut whether the choice seems logical or not. I feel my way to an answer (I use this method more often than thinking!).
Then there was

Dancing ThankfulPeople are always saying how it amazes them how I think, wish, pray for something and then it appears. To me this is a normal way of living so it confuses me when they say such things. I wonder, though, if maybe these little miracles aren't happening to them, too, and they're just not giving them cr